WEST PALM BEACH TRIES TO LURE DEVELOPMENT TO NORTH END

This is really interesting. In West Palm Beach’s never ending quest to become a thriving city, they have come up with a plan for the long dilapidated North end of the City. It should be noted that after years of failing to come up with viable plans to improve the City, West Palm Beach finally outsourced their own Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to a Broward County firm called Redevelopment Management Associates. The newest plan has a grand idea of allowing buildings to be built to 15 stories from the current 4 stories allowed with some proposed zoning changes in the area surrounding Currie Park. Despite the fact that residential developers have struggled with residential projects in the Downtown area near City Place and have not applied for a permit in this area for years, Jon Ward, the new leader of the CRA, insisted that, “We don’t have to worry about would developers be interested in it, the developers are interested in it, jumping up and down to build something now.” He also claimed that national food chains have expressed interest in coming into the Northwood area. He neglected to name a single developer or national retailer to back up his suspect and even laughable claims. If you have ever been to this area, you would understand. It is not only dilapidated, but there is really no reason to go there. There are no supermarkets in the area, which really discourage homeowners from coming there. There is high crime, narrow dirty streets and a general sense of apathy that pervades the entire area it seems. The idea that a simple zoning change to allow larger developments is just not going to open the flood gates of development there I think. Why would they build here when they can build somewhere else that is in better shape with more infrastructure in place? While some of these ideas have promise, they really need to get the City in order before they can move forward with large scale projects. Since I moved to Florida in 2001 I have seen the City steadily deteriorate, despite the residential growth Downtown. I remember back then that my company was hired to do a study on how to create a downtown area in West Palm Beach. When a city has to hire a company to do this I think they are in real trouble. I hope that someday West Palm Beach can figure out how to get out of its hole and start to thrive like all the cities surrounding it. It has very stubbornly gone the other direction so hopefully its time is near. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.